Hillary Clinton admonished rival Donald Trump on Thursday for claiming that she and Barack Obama were the founders of the Islamic State, saying anyone who would “sink so low” should never be president.
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“It is helpful – at least to the rest of the ticket – that he is focusing a little more on Clinton than on other Republicans, whether defeated primary opponents or other elected officials who are on the ballot, for a change”, said former New Hampshire Republican Chairman Fergus Cullen, who is not supporting Trump.
“No”, Trump responded. “I meant he’s the founder of ISIS”. “ISIS will hand her the most valuable player award”.
Mr Trump denies that this conversation ever took place. “Everyone’s liking it. I think they’re liking it”.
Still, the new evidence that the USA war against the Islamic State may not be going as well as the administration has claimed makes it easier for Trump to accuse Obama of intentionally misrepresenting the facts on the ground or to argue that the president was so incompetent that that he didn’t even realize that he was being misled by his commanders.
“No, Barack Obama is not the founder of ISIS”, Clinton tweeted. “And then you had Hillary with Libya, so sad”, Trump said. This group would eventually become what we know today as the “Islamic State”, or ISIS. “He is the founder of ISIS”, Donald Trump said at a rally.
“It goes without saying that this is a false claim from a presidential candidate with an aversion to the truth and an unprecedented lack of knowledge”, Jake Sullivan, the Clinton campaign’s senior policy adviser, said in a statement released after Trump’s speech.
“Once again, he’s echoing the talking points of Putin and our adversaries to attack American leaders and American interests”, Sullivan said.
This is the guy who founded ISIS: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Clinton meanwhile turned toward the economy, telling supporters in MI she will defend U.S. interests against China and reject the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement if she is president.
The White House declined to comment on Trump’s claim. However, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called Trump’s comments “bizarre” at a news conference on Capitol Hill. They make their verbal poo poo any place to get attention. “And here we are talking about it”, Pelosi said.
Trump’s inclusion of the president ramps up an already existing line of attack he has been using against Clinton. “Or it’s going to be taken away from us”. “I give her too, by the way, Hillary Clinton”. “Her weakness. Her weak policies”.
Also on Tuesday at a rally in North Carolina, Trump labeled Clinton the Islamic State’s “most valuable player”.
Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric is common on the campaign trail and usually a big hit with his supporters.
Family members of Democratic president John F. Kennedy, shot to death in 1963, expressed revulsion over Trump for voicing “the possibility of political assassination”. That rallying cry was popularized at the Republican convention in Cleveland in July.
“No, it’s no mistake”, Trump said. He acknowledged the possibility he could lose the race.
“I know what you meant”, host Hugh Hewitt told the GOP nominee.
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“If at the end of 90 days I fall short… even though I’m supposed to have a lot of good ideas, it’s OK. I go back to a very good way of life”, he told the network.
